


Mirror Bell Reflection

by Touhoulicious



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: A bit of poetry, Adventure, Experimental, Experimental Style, F/M, Fantastic, Fantasy, bizarre, strange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 06:22:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6644893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Touhoulicious/pseuds/Touhoulicious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liechtenstein and Switzerland attempt to find the source of a strange memory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Discovery

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Konata101](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Konata101/gifts).



Not everything does what it seems to do.

The walls were quite warm, with the sun shining, blasting its rays everywhere. A logo had a bell, well, it wasn’t a bell. It was rather a representation of a bell. Like other individuals of its race, it didn’t have a name. However, it belonged to Glen William Bell. If this representation had a feeling, it would wonder why did its dead owner have a name and it did not. A little, innocent sister was sitting on the small, rather empty-restaurant, touching the warm, heated glass. Her delicate fingers were weakly poking the non-crystalline material, to call the attention of a beautiful Ulysses butterfly, whose wings were relaxed, and its abnormal face was just observing the flowers that were sitting next to the clean, amorphous solid. 

Lili Zwingli, the representation of Liechtenstein, was sitting inside Taco Bell, admiring the butterflies outside of a window – a rather simple version of the first paragraph.   
Basch Zwingli, Switzerland, came with two minimalistic – that’s how he and her sister call it – tacos, and a piece of chocolate cake. Both of the tacos were small, and they didn’t have the typical filling a Taco Bell taco had (So big, that it seemed to want to explode). More salad than meat, with no sauces, mainly lettuce and some pieces of tomatoes. The older brother made sure he didn’t forget the remedies for stomach gases – decrease them to a minimum. Liechtenstein, looking at the taco briefly before eating it, munched them multiple times, at least more than 20. Etiquette rules from Basch. Eat slowly, don’t speak when your mouth is full, always chew with your mouth closed, let your guest order first don’t put your cell phone on the table don’t reach across the table to get some of your companion’s food don’t yell to the waiter do send food that’s not cooked properly back remember your table manners . . . Liechtenstein. 

After an hour and a half or so, when both siblings finished their meal at the seemingly utopic city of Zürich, Lili felt her left hand touch a strange object, in which her big, doll-like, green eyes didn’t see before, while she was waiting for her brother to return from the restroom – simply washing his hands and taking the medicine. At the first moment, to the recently-turned-teenager girl, it felt like an iron-like object. When the hand finally picked it up and she really sees what it was, a RPG-ish “image popped up” inside her mind, and it felt like a voice from the imaginary text was saying “You pick up a little bell that your left hand felt. Swing it? Yes, No”. To not look impolite, Liechtenstein put the bell inside her little, heart-shaped, white purse, to play with it at home. At the same moment, she saw her brother with his natural, serious expression, politely putting a single, white, dull, circle-shaped pill on the table. The sister knew what to do. Consciously, she did want to drink the pill, since it’s for the sake of her. Subconsciously, she didn’t, as it was a bit large and had a very, with bold and italics, very bitter taste. Going to the fancy-looking bathroom grabbing her tiny water bottle, before actually committing the action of drinking the pill, a little, useless memory that would be forgotten soon, according to her young mind, her own eyes stare at the mirror in front of her.  
She always found mirrors fascinating. Just a reflection, according to Switzerland, but for the microstate, a simple reflection could return memories, traumata, and thoughts to your mind. Just a single glance at the own color of your eye could already bring thoughts. Just looking at your eyelashes could bring traumatic memories – if you had some.   
Situations where you broke your favorite toy, or more serious ones, when your friend or one of your parents died. 

Reminder how you looked at the mirror, and your eyelashes were soaking wet with salty tears. They were as salty as the typical sea water (The tongue just tasting one could slightly bring hunger). A simple reflection of something could bring up memories. Even the reflection of a pimple on your face could bring up thoughts. God did such a good, complex job on the making-off of the world and in the universe. Lili sometimes thinks He was surprised that the human race, that was made as a simple, ignorant primate, similar to the common chimpanzee, turned out to be rational. However, He knew that it would take billions of years for them to reach perfection. 

All the thoughts inside the thirteen-year-old mind stopped. They simply stopped out of nowhere. It was more or less a reminder to take the pills. Holding her nose, the teenage micro nation’s tongue seemed to “burn” just by touching the surface of the convex-shaped circle. To get rid of that horrible feeling, she took multiple gulps of water, carefully holding the bottle to not spill on her red dress. The colorless, different fluid made a relieve to her, despite still having that black coffee-like taste in the final part of her tongue – The very area which is specialized in bitter tastes. Thinking of tasting buds, it just brought the memory of her older brother’s mouth exam, revealing that he was a hypo taster. Under. Less than normal. Deficient. That’s why he simply said that the sandwich he ate tasted like sandwich. He wasn’t sure what taste was like. 

Liechtenstein returned from the bathroom with other thoughts, and a bit of excitation to play with the small bell. Happily taking her older brother’s hand to go to the car and to return home. Smiling at the blue, midday sky, other thoughts go to her mind, the brief reflection of her green eyes that wanted to disappear from the window set the chain of thoughts even more. This time, it was her imagination. The dream of stepping and making balls of frozen versions of rain drops, and look at some of those beautiful individuals who didn’t fall to the ground yet. Snowflakes. What if each snowflake represented the life of each person, or the memories of everyone? And the most beautiful ones being from the most revolutionary, intelligent, kindest people? The term “Special Snowflake” would only belong to the snowflake representing Jesus of Nazareth, she thought. Looking at the night, dark sky, bursting rainbow-like rays in multiple shades of red, pink, white and green. It even had a beautiful name, the Aurora. A beautiful name for a beautiful phenomenon, she thought. The rays would be slowly flying around the sky, expanding, seeming to want to replace the actual, blue sky. It was true beauty for Lili Zwingli. Like it was a truly supernatural, magic world. Each of the rays would make the clouds seem darker and blacker, but she would like the beautiful vision of stars in a pink and green sky. Sleeping early and waking up early, she would love to silently and calmly play at 5 AM, to just see the Aurora Australis.

What if… Auroras represent signs of hope? She thought. At sunset, it would be a message that the sun would appear again tomorrow, with or without clouds to lighten up our day, and at sunrise it would say to not be sad – it would say we have hope. It would be a proof it would appear again. The micro nation couldn’t believe our eyes couldn’t be able to see a wonderful thing such as The Sun – only with sunglasses. Our own star deserves respect, her thirteen-year-old mind says. It can give hope and love for people. It illuminates everything by its way. If only there was a way to truly see it, as Nasa revealed our star was actually white and not yellow… Then what colors Sirius, Pollux, Rigel, Pistol Star, and Antares are? Maybe Sirius is actually blue, Pollux is pink, and Rigel is green? She’d love to see blue, pink, and green as stars’ real colors. 

The thoughts, unlike last time, stopped voluntarily, with her brother saying they’re home. Liechtenstein opens the purse and holds the bell with her right hand, walking to her bedroom. Curious of hearing how it sounded like, her index and thumb fingers swung it, and it made little, high-pitched noises indicating the conflict between the clapper and the bowl. Each vibration reminded her of Sealand, herself, and children in general, because it was so high-pitched and childish sounding. Ding. Each of them could relax any minds, she thought. The little sister decided to walk towards Basch and show the little gift she found herself. 

“Basch! Look what I found in the restaurant!”

The brother, sweeping the floor of the living room, saw the little thing she recently got fascinated over. His eyes widened a bit, probably because of how surprisingly polished, clean it was and its golden color was shiny, clearly making the object look like it was finished in just a few hours ago. Suddenly, his ears heard his little sister swinging the bell to show how it sounded like. At the first moment his ears capture the sound, nothing happened to his mind, but seconds after she finished swinging, a strange thought appeared in his ancient mind. Déjà vu. He wasn’t sure if he experienced that. In fact, he was sure it never happened to him before. A thought that featured itself as blank. All white. No sound, nothing, just a white background. Then, an object popped up. An upside-down bell swinging like it actually loved to swing. Its bowl was very deformed and looked like it was modeled by a beginner. It was made of crystal. Every single segment of the bell was made of crystal. Each time the clapper conflicted with the bowl, it made a deep, but soft, soothing, and calm sound. It was singing. Switzerland seemed to look a bit shocked, looking at everything around the room.   
“It’s actually very nice to see it…”  
However, the brother seemed so confused that Lili still remained questioning herself.   
“What’s wrong, Basch?”  
“Never mind, Lili, it’s just a strange thought, that’s all…”  
“That’s strange, I had this weird thought too! Some upside down bell that wanted to sing along with this little bell. It would be great to see two bells singing in harmony.”

Switzerland didn’t reply, he just became even more shocked inside. “Did she also have this thought?”, his mind questioned. Maybe the bell was supernatural or something. No, that wouldn’t be true, just an over the top conclusion. It’s just a coincidence. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence. I hope that. . . 

The rest of the day developed typically, just like any other days ever. It wasn’t abnormal, unlike in the Precambrian Period, where the day actually went faster and it was twenty-two hours long. Tidal effects? Maybe. The earth rotated, developing night and dawn for Switzerland and Europe. Lili Zwingli simply had the typical dream, surreal, strange, and bizarre. A SSB. That’s how she calls it. Sometimes, she dreams that she’s a whale, swimming around the sea, with her brother. This dream she had was one of them. However, strangely, everything was on fire, and the sea was intensely boiling. She hugged her brother, in which told her not to be scared, and suddenly pointed out a border around them that came out of nowhere. Just like the neutral border in Switzerland. It was like the fire was begging to come inside the border, but couldn’t. 

“Lili.” 

Liechtenstein awoke next to Switzerland, who shook her shoulder a bit. Her huge eyes saw the body and the face of his sibling, when she noticed the strange background behind him. A mixture of red, pink, white and green. As she got up, she looked around the strange world. Her foot first stepped on the ground, which seemed to be invisible. The micro nation didn’t fall at all, and the gravity was perfectly fine. Shocked, she realized how she was one-hundred percent conscious, and how it wasn’t a dream, at all. Wearing her long-sleeved, empire-waist nightgown, in which the color was baby blue with baby pink stripes, she held her brother’s hand, who showed a bucket of water, toothpaste and her toothbrush. She knew what to do. 

Accompanying Basch after eating a sandwich for breakfast on her bed, she was completely fascinated by the world they were currently exploring, especially by some strange mirrors in front of them. Two lines, with seven mirrors in each one. Walking closer to them, she could see their frames were clearly in the shape of a bell, reminding of the bell she got yesterday. As they walked by the mirrors, she and her brother realized that they weren’t normal mirrors.

The first mirrors showed both Switzerland and Liechtenstein as babies. Even as a child, the brother had that serious face, but he still was cute, Lili thought. She remembered of the little yellow dress she wore as a newborn like it was last week. Time flies. 

The second mirrors showed them as toddlers, around the age of two and three. Toddler Basch had a wet stain on his pants, returning his adult self an embarrassing memory of his constant bedwetting, that lasted until the age of eight. Toddler Lili was very cute to her current self. Her innocent, emerald-green eyes that she had since she was born. She remembers of a weird quirk she had, that was hitting her forehead – delicately, of course. She still lives with this motor tic, which sometimes makes people think weird of her.

The third mirrors showed them as younger children. Liechtenstein loved herself as a kid, she was as adorable as a little doll. In fact, she looked like those British Victorian era dolls. Those chubby faces, bright eyes, and white, porcelain skin. Her child self always loved to play with dolls. Real ones or paper ones, which you could put any dresses on them. She remembered the era in which her hair was tied into two braids. That innocent smile she always had. 5-year-old Switzerland was with a less happy face, probably the face of those children whose parents are in the military and they make them go there too. His outfit had a striking resemblance to his adult self’s clothes, and he even had his hat. 

The fourth mirrors showed them as older children – age seven to nine. Eight-year-old Lili didn’t have much differences compared to her thirteen-year-old self. She already was fascinated with iron nails, and their infinite rings around them, that seemed to be born, die, be reborn and redie if you spun the object. The human race could always, and will always build amazing things such as the iron nail. Nine-year-old Basch didn’t have the innocent look anymore, instead his eyes were becoming like the ones of his adult self. He kind of had a sad look. Maybe it was a trauma Switzerland had and never told anyone.

The fifth mirrors showed a younger teenage version of Switzerland. Possibly 13 or 14. He was already getting older and looking a lot like his 18-year-old self. Growing and becoming really big. The mirror for Liechtenstein was blank, along with the sixth one. The sixth one didn’t have anything interesting, it was just Basch’s 16-year-old self. It was like a clone of him, only a little shorter. 

The seventh and final mirrors just showed their regular reflections. Nothing interesting. Until Liechtenstein touched the final mirror of her timeline. Unexpectedly, it jumped, its glass seemed to distort into a fluid, only to harden up and show a very, very beautiful woman, with a pixie cut, little, small pearl earrings, a purple ribbon on her head, and a military outfit. Her eyelashes looked like fake ones because of how curvy and large they were. She had a necklace with a circle-shaped pendant and frame, dropping between her small breasts. 

Lili could not believe of what her eyes were seeing.   
“You look very beautiful, sister.”  
“Thank you, Basch.”

The sister smiled sweetly to her brother, who just complimented her future self. This is why two of the seven mirrors on Lili’s side were blank – she still was a young teenager, of only thirteen years. Suddenly, both of them heard dragging noises. The mirrors are getting together in a group to form only one line. When the line was made, they slowly got together, unifying themselves – The glass becoming a fluid for a brief moment, and hardening when there was only one huge mirror. It wasn’t reflecting anything. The glass was blank. Lili and Basch seemed to be shocked and impressed by the surreal transformation they saw. The mirror slowly showed a green eye, blinking and blinking, like it was its eye. With large eyelashes and many red veins, it shut itself really tight. So hard that they weren’t very visible, and to fit the situation, the glass of the mirror started to crack. Fortunately, it started to fall to the opposite direction. The glass, breaking completely, with a loud, almost deafening voice, had tiny pieces jumping from the frame, with some of them falling to the ground, but some of them still remaining in midair. 

 

The pieces that stayed in midair slowly transformed into those animals Liechtenstein loved. Beautiful, small creatures, whose singing was almost in the level of angels’, and eyes that remind us that they have souls too. Birds of diverse species, such as the Alagoas curassow, the Robin, the Cuckoo, the Parrot, the Eagle, the Falcon… Each bird was unique – Lili couldn’t find two birds of the same species, nor could Basch. They even had their bright colors, instead of just being a dull glass. At least they’re not like moths, Lili thought.

The remaining pieces of the mirror became a soft, gentle breeze, turning completely invisible. They simply vanished out of nowhere. Some parts of the breeze were white lights, that seemed to “beckon” both siblings. Shiny, and didn’t seem harmful at all. (It also reminded Basch of that little fairy from Japan’s game, Zelda…) They slowly walked in the direction the lights were going. More and more lights were generating and they were going faster, but nothing happened to the intensity of the wind. It just continued to be a soft, soothing breeze. The brother, holding his micro nation sister’s hand, as he accompanies the lights, that seemed to have somewhat of a cheerful atmosphere. Both siblings felt a strange feeling they were going to either jump very high, fall, or have the strange world’s gravity to be lost. However, none of the three things they thought actually happened. They actually started to levitate from the invisible floor, and to fly just like the lights, however in a much slower speed. Liechtenstein always dreamed of flying like a bird… And a whole lot of years be like, the dream came true. Switzerland’s mind suddenly takes out the memory balls with the breeze of the Alps. Something that made part of his and Lili’s everyday lives. It was incredibly amazing how the glass parts could imitate something he thought they were unaware of, if they even had the ability to think. It was exactly like the original to the point that if he was blindfolded, he couldn’t tell any differences between the glass pieces’ breeze and the Alps’. 

 

Nothing seemed to develop in front of the siblings. However, because it reflected the sky, something was actually forming. Eye-shape “frame” of eyelashes. Pure black, as ebony. Finally noticing it, with the bottom part of her skirt deforming because of the wind, Liechtenstein noticed how the lights disappeared as they touched the “invisible eyeball”. Just a single physical contact with it and it suddenly disappeared – Like a glitch in a PS1 game. When it was the siblings’ turn, they realized the sudden disappearance. At the event their hair barely touched the “eyeball”, they went in this unexpected burst of energy, that was at the speed of The Flash’s record. Everyone around them was pure white, nothing behind, only a black hole at the front of them. Both siblings looked very shocked at the unpredictable moment. Basch looked a bit scared, but Lili looked quite happy and impressed, just like someone her age and with the innocence in her level would. Both of their hairs were deforming with the amount of high speed, becoming just like broom fibers, and to protect her ribbon and life, the older brother hugged her sister. The black hole, with had a huge resemblance towards those individuals of its race from space, became bigger, in which indicated both travelers were closer and closer each second. At the last second, everything became pure darkness, and the speed grew to infinity.


	2. Time Has Stopped

They were suddenly standing on a ground they’re unaware of, focalizing more on the things around them, rather than below. Everything was distorted, the colors… It was incomprehensible to describe. Everything seemed to be frozen, except for the siblings and the air itself. The bizarre scenery seemed to be infinite, to never end. Both of them walked around it, each step making a giant echo, with circa 0,5 seconds of delay. Liechtenstein was fascinated by the strange world around her, when she noticed the floor. Bright pink and green hexagon tiles, which glowed a bit whenever they stepped on them. Each hexagon had different colors and shadows, meaning that they must have something inside. As Lili kneels to see what it was, she saw everything in her life. A little girl painting a flower in a canvas, still learning how to draw and color. In another one, she was playing happily on a slide, with an expression indicating she was having fun. However, they were just pictures. Pictures representing every single memory the micro nation had. It was like a picture book of anything and everything that happened in her entire life so far. Then, she looked at the green ones, to see what they were representing. A little boy, marching like a soldier, already with a gun. A rather serious face, with a wet mouth indicating that he was still in the age of still learning how not to drool, and angry, suspicious-looking eyes. It was her brother. Like the pink ones, they were pictures. The sister decided to touch them, wanting something to happen.  
“Liechtenstein, nothing will happen to them, just glow. I see time has stopped.”  
Lili got up and looked at her brother, a bit impressed with his affirmation.  
“How do you know?”

Basch pointed to a big, brown, pasteboard box, that seemed to be stuck in mid-air, as it was upside down, and didn’t move at all. It was basically letting more hexagons fall off to the floor, and failing at it, as they didn’t fall at all. Time was also frozen to the objects. As the two Earthly nations walked further and further towards the strange phenomenon among strange phenomena, they noticed how the hexagons were actually the same color as the box, maybe because it was a mixture of pink and green. Both attempted to see if they contributed to the Mosaic of Memories – That’s how Lili called the floor. Different shades, that means that something was inside them. Unfortunately, blur was covering them, indicating they must be secret or something. They must be memories from the future, the young girl’s mind thought.   
“They must be memories from the future, brother… Because the future is impossible to see. We can see the past and present, but we cannot look at how the future is exactly going to be like. We may predict, but may not look with exactitude.”  
“I was about to think about that, but I wasn’t sure…”  
“I’m sure it’s the future. You should know that.”

Lili looked more into the hexagons, until the sound of something else happened. It wasn’t her brother who did it, because the sound of him falling to the ground wouldn’t be that metallic. Her head looked around, making her eyes see what it was, and so she saw a shiny, golden object on the ground. It was quite tiny, having the size of a small eraser, and was completely clean and polished. At its conflict to the ground, it made tiny, high-pitched, cute sounds, calling the attention of both siblings. 

It was the bell the teenage girl got yesterday. 

Taking it, she smiles at it again, and thought how interesting was the tiny, tiny bell not having time stopped for it. Its vibration sounds echoed through the strange dimension, in which seemed to want to activate something. At the most unexpected moment, it did it. All of the hexagons now were glowing, but more than normal, and many of them started to fall. A noise just like an earthquake. The hexagons fell and fell until the resting ones were forming a long rectangle, sparing Lili and Basch. When it began to fall, it made a sign for both to not be scared, as it suddenly – flop – made a giant parachute come out of nowhere, making the fall a lot slower and less deadly. A table and two chairs came out of nowhere, indicating that Lili and Basch had to sit on them. Strangely, it generated two plates, and a smell of cooked fish. Two cups were immediately next to the plates, and there were two jars, one of water, and other one of grape juice.   
“Is this world representing our memories? You know, focalizing on them?”  
“I don’t know, it just came out of nowhere, Lili…”

Both ate their cooked fish with golden knives and plates, each bite making loud crunching noises. The umbrella that covering the whole “territory” that temporarily belonged to both youngsters protected them from giant, blue raindrops. Unlike regular versions of them, they were really blue. A glowing, neon blue, that created an emphasis throughout the white background. Lili, wanting to see what was happening to the water that went to the process of vaporizing and condensation, she saw how the raindrops were so big each of them was contributing to the construction of a river. A truly blue, bright, neon river, glowing as much as the lights of the breeze that was just like the Alps’. Coming back to eating the fish, she put the little bell inside the pocket of her brother’s outfit, in hopes to not lose it again. 

An hour and a half later, when the finite floor touched the surface of the river, everything on it disappeared, except for Liechtenstein and Switzerland. More hexagons generated, slowly making it more and more dense to sink inside the beautiful, colored water. A strange shape, with some of the hexagons making mechanisms and others becoming invisible. A submarine. There was even a functioning propeller, and its material was so resistant to the point it could even survive a nuclear explosion, just like cockroaches, insects everyone really hates. Well, not everyone, because seven billion people wouldn’t have the same opinion. 

Was there any fish?

Yes.

Fish in the shape of bells. Each fish was completely unique, none of the siblings could find two fish that looked the same. Each of them made a unique sound, some of them sounding ditzy, others being deep, others being high-pitched, others being long, others being short… That was the nature of those bizarre fish. 

When suddenly got Switzerland’s eye.

An orca. It was in the shape of a crystal bell, completely deformed, and making deep, but calm and gentle sounds. The decoration wasn’t greatly made, but the clapper was functioning like it was a normal bell. The 18-year-old nation decided to follow it quickly, in hopes to what was the source of the strange journey. It was the bell in his déjà vu thoughts. He put loads of impulse on the submarine, distracted by the giant cetacean.   
“Ding, dong, ding, dong, ding, dong, ding, dong…”

The submarine was about to reach the bell, when the bell started to lose some mass. Pieces of crystal dissolved, altering the color of the river. The object just disappeared, turning into powder. Unexpectedly. It kept altering and altering until the water was… A lot lighter and clearer than normal. The submarine suddenly became less and less dense than the water, until it was completely outside of the water. All wet, the biggest part of the hexagons disappeared, until a completely concave-shaped vehicle was made. It was a boat, with four oars. The water was extremely clean and crystalline, zero-percent dirty. A true beauty. God did such a good job on making the ocean, the sister thought. Lili and Basch then realize a very, very small island in front of them. Seemingly ordinary trees and sand. Both of them rowed and rowed, below the beautiful, clear sky. It was shining strongly, making the day hotter – same thing with the water. The boat stopped just by touching the hot sand. The young sister got out first, having his brother tying the boat’s robe to a wooden plank he put firmly into the sand. Lili observed the trees, whose leaves were like their hair. They were the basic beauty of a tree. In fact, leaves are the basic beauty of plants. Flowers and fruits contribute to it too. 

The older brother observed the trees, in which created some shadows for them. The island was so tiny only four trees could fit in. All of the quartet were palm trees, but there was something unique in them. They actually gave stuff someone couldn’t see a palm tree giving. The first and second trees were giving porcelain cups of water, while the third and fourth trees were giving fruits. Known fruits. Such as the apple, banana, orange, lemon, grape… Completely unnatural for a common, palm tree. 

Lili, sitting on the border of the island, observed the crystalline water. Shining with the sun, and the small waves reflecting them. Many rays reached the very bottom of the sea, to brighten up the fish’s day. Touching the water, another memory awakened inside her mind. In a very hot day of this year, a Spring one, it was a Saturday. The micro nation, not handling the warm weather, decided to go to her tiny pool. Basch also decided to play with her, splashing some water, and making bubbles. A really, really joyful memory, that she would never forget. It was one of those times she saw her brother to be really, really happy, as he loved his sister with all of his heart. Sure, the sister did have her innocent side, but she had a secret side to awaken whenever her brother was in danger. He wasn’t the only one who did know how to use a gun. But like Lili, the brother did have his happy, cheerful side, that is awakened whenever he’s in a happy moment with his sister around him. Suddenly, her right shoulder felt something soft. Her dolly eyes looking at it… It was a towel. Her brother said to clean her feet. Dipping the clean towel inside the River of Wonders, she started to wash her feet. A rather funny memory escaped from her hidden memories box.  
A young Liechtenstein came in the living room, with her brother stopping her.  
“Stop, I just mopped the floor! Go wash these feet right.”  
And so, she washed them. But when she came out to the living room again, she was still leaving foot prints.  
“That’s weird, you told me to wash my right foot…”

The current Liechtenstein giggled alone, with that memory inside her head. Her toddler self was just learning that age, after all. 

Unpredictably, something fell to the sand, making a rather deep, in-tune voice, like a big, church bell would. Both of the Zwingli siblings saw what made this beautiful sound. It was a very relaxing and pretty voice, according to them. They walked in, and… 

A deformed crystal bell was in the ground. It was rather small, but it was bigger than the tiny bell Lili found. Switzerland thought this was the opportunity to finally have physical contact with an element of his déjà vu thoughts. Touching it, it seemed to be clean, with the only thing making it a bit dirty was the sand. Making a brief moment, the bell already made a noise like it was of much larger size. Echoing through the island. Just this single sound of the clapper colliding with the ball could already make the crystalline water bubble a bit.  
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle.

Three big drops came out of the river, spinning, and slowly duplicating multiple times. All making the sound of a huge wave coming to a beach. They were making a large tunnel of water, leading to somewhere they couldn’t see with their naked eyes, as it was very long. The bell simply got out from Switzerland’s hand, flying through the tunnel, really fast, like it didn’t want to stay with him. Before going to the tunnel, the Zwingli two got food and water from the trees, as much as they could. Fortunately, the trees seemed to know what was going on, as they offered a sack, a huge bottle of water and a big, blue briefcase, with a lock code and wheels. They knew what to do. 

Going into the tunnel, they shockingly could walk on it, however, if they stopped, their bodies would be still moving. Same thing if they sat on it. Both of them decided to sit. The speed they were going on was again, a bit slow, but it was relaxing, with the breeze and the water dripping noises. Sometimes, far away from them, the crystal bell would ring every once in a while, making the bunch of sounds a song. An ambience, experimental song, that is made for the hopes to make people relax and have their happy feelings returned. Hugging each other, the Zwingli siblings had a 30-minute trip towards… Air? No…

Lili and Basch’s speed started to go much faster. They started to fall down towards a strange-looking cloud, that seemed to be very small. It was a waterfall. A very large, but short one, that seemed to bring more of the crystalline river.

At the moment the average spectator would expect they were going to fall to the water, the end of the waterfall started to form a large wave. Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle. Fingers started to come out of the wave, that became thinner. Just like how a wizard specialized in water magic would do. The wave ended up becoming a hand, that were grabbing the two nations who seemed to be in peril. Once the hydro-hand saved them both and had them sitting on it like it was solid, it lied on a seemingly endless forest. 

The forest had cherry trees everywhere, just like near Japan’s home. Beautiful, bright, some of the flowers started to move, like they were actually alive. They seemed to speak in a scratch-scratch language, rubbing their petals and move like there was no tomorrow. Liechtenstein found the “talking” flowers to be very cute, since she sometimes sung to them. Since the brother and the sister first stepped onto the forest, they heard weird tunes, but as they walked further to this moment, both of them realized it was music. Cheery, jumbled Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) music, which seemed to be disorganized. It had those tunes in which made it sound like it was made in the late 1990’s or the early 2000’s. Little lights enlighten the siblings’ way, mostly red, pink, and white. Stones, in which glowed, like a red light, just like the hexagons from the place in which time has frozen, and couldn’t move at all. 

Finding what was the source of the strange MIDI song, they were shocked with what they saw. Not a thing you see every day.

Cherry blossom flowers were an audience. They were sitting in lines, and on the green grass. The way they blinked was their stigma closing and opening, an event so fast that it was barely noticeable. In front of them, there were two flowers singing and dancing. Their dance was considered graceful around their race, but their singing was, unpredictably, in English. It was like Americans, in a show taking place in the US, singing Arabian. 

Spinning around the clapper,  
The bell makes its ding-dong,  
It was a call for the people  
About the boy named God.  
It was a call for the people  
About the boy named God.

O’ Bell of Switzerland,  
Thy sound art a word,  
That was non-existent  
Until the discovery of America.

Once I found this little spirit,  
His name was unknown,  
But he once could transform,  
Into a bell of crystal,  
And now, he’s gone,  
O’ Lord, and whither is it?

O’ Bell of Switzerland,   
Thy sound art a word,  
That was non-existent  
Until the discovery of America.  
That was non-existent  
Until the discovery of America.

 

A similar sound to clapping comes out after the song just ended. The leaves on each flower’s peduncle were colliding over and over. Like a human clapping his hands. Their smile was their sepals curving up. Flowers behaving like humans, however, their culture was very different. 

One of the flowers on the stage suddenly talked in a scratching language, in which only the audience could understand. Rough, loud scratches, that was completely extraordinary to Lili and Basch. And so, the plant grew five smaller leaves from the leaf on its peduncle, in which were the equivalent to the human fingers. It held three leaves up, the equivalents to the pinky, middle, and index fingers. Suddenly, all the magnoliophytes in the audience seemed to be cheering and more active. Each one making scratch noises. Immediately, both flowers generate possibly the rarest and most valuable gem ever. The Pink Star diamond. From generating a white rock, in which was crystalized and turned pink. 

Liechtenstein tried to communicate with the flowers, by rubbing her hands together, and hitting them. The flowers seemed a bit confused, according to Basch. However, the actors on the stage generated something, like she actually said something in their language. 

Holding their leaves together, the performers made a black circle. Just like a blackberry. Then, a white dot appeared in the middle of the circle, just like a pupil. Suddenly, in just a second, both of the flowers spun the circle, revealing it was actually a sphere. The little white dot got larger and larger, covering almost of the whole sphere. A big, black dot appeared among the whiteness, along with the sphere slowly growing human-like legs and arms. A walking eye.

Both homo sapiens-like nations dropped their jaws at the sight of the fantastic generation abilities of the flowers, and the fact that the little sister actually communicated with beings that had nothing to relate to. Culture, language, costumes… Absolutely nothing. 

The third and last thing they generated was actually a collective activity. All of the flowers around the nations, surprisingly, got their petals go brown, to the point they just looked like every flower at the end of their lives. Like the performers, two leaves appear on the peduncles of each flower, in which was the equivalent to human feet. Each magnoliophyte walked closer to each other, until it was a complete cluster of seemingly-almost-dead flowers. All of their peduncles unite into just one, also becoming brown and dark. All the petals of the thousands of flowers disappear, with the stigma just being a crown. More like something similar to a crown, actually. The strange shape was deforming more and more, forming a human-like torso. However, it had an opening at the bottom, with a swinging ball inside of it. Its color was cobber-like, however, cracking sounds indicated that it became as hard as the original chemical element. A limb slowly formed from the waist, forming a perfect shape, extremely similar to a handle of a jack. A second limb came out below to the first one, however it resembled a human arm, who suddenly beckoned both the brother and the sister to come inside of the object.

A giant bell… Well, it wasn’t one. When both siblings what was really inside, the object was actually a huge music box. Lili wondered what song would the “bell” sing.

It sounded just like a small music box would, as the bell started to move and levitate. Two windows opened around Liechtenstein and Switzerland, and closed with the glass part. The opening of the “bell” was now closed. Both of the countries could identify the song as Ode to Joy, in which was quite impressive, considering how flowers wouldn’t know songs, have opinions, or have feelings. The vehicle started to go faster and faster among the sky, passing through clouds like they were nothing. Both Basch and Lili watched how the world below them got a lot smaller than before, like it was shrinking into a gumball. Sitting, the younger one questioned about the strange crystal bell.  
“I always wondered, Basch… Is there a relation between this strange thought of yours and the crystal bell? Because you always seem confused whenever you see it…”

The older one, who just thought about it the second she finished her question, decided to answer it, only to have the song inside the false percussion instrument to stop. Surprisingly, it didn’t fall, interrupting the sudden feelings of fear of the passengers inside of it. The arm turned the handle, emitting sounds of a normal music box’s. Once the song started again, the air vehicle also started to move once again.   
“I’m glad this bell has an arm, because whenever this song stops, I get afraid this thing will fall…  
But anyways, Lili… I’ll have to admit, that there’s this strange relation between that strange bell and my strange thoughts. I always have them whenever the bell approaches me, but I don’t know where the birth of those took place.”  
“No? It must be a very hidden memory, then…”

Lili couldn’t wait to see what was the source of the memory. Maybe it was a big secret in her big brother’s life in which he couldn’t tell anyone. Or a moment in which happened in a phase that he was so little he couldn’t remember at all. Or both… Her brother seemed to be complex after all. Complex, and simple at the same time. Complex in the way that he had a past that altered his feelings, that is, a traumatic past. Simple in the way that he’s still imperfect, same thing with her. Humans are still simple, and still have many things to reach before becoming pure spirits, she thought. He’s a simple, but great person. He’s simple, but already ahead of other people. Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, and Gandhi were simple people, but were already ahead of other spirits. They would accept their simplicity, of course, as they were more evolved, so humility took place of their pride, what didn’t happen with spirits that were less evolved than them. Jesus, however, is more evolved than them, and has an infinite wisdom. His aura is a lot larger, after all, he was the son of God. He did a great job when making His son.

She was traveling through her mind, when the teenage micro nation noticed how dusty it was outside, and how sand was desperately trying to enter the false idiophone instrument. The music box was more and more out-of-tune, slowly breaking. Frightened, she decided to hug her sibling, in fear it would fall to the ground. The airship was suddenly around a desert, that the passengers didn’t even notice, as it was flying so fast. The dense blasts of wind threw the “bell” around, like it was nothing but a piece of paper. When it couldn’t get worse, Basch noticed how the sand was slowly disappearing, and a black hole was starting to open, just like those in space. They would fall to pure darkness. Like the black holes outside of Earth, its gravity sucked everything around it, and inside, it went growing until infinity. The vehicle started to completely deform within the blackness, and everything started to break. The flowers were afraid, and the Zwingli siblings were too.

After an hour of darkness, Basch and Lili opened their eyes, and noticed how they were laying on some strange black plank. Seeing the structure, it was a big arrow, pointing to the number “4”. Two more arrows passed by, in faster speeds. Another black one, in which suddenly pointed to the number “5” after being together, like a pair, to its seemingly stationary sibling. But one went as fast as it could, like it just ate loads of sugar. A red one, that couldn’t stop spinning around. Both siblings were on the famous instrument to coordinate time. But what was even more surprisingly is how both of them survived the black hole. 

Leaving the large clock, they were at normal size, compared to the clean forest around them. A river with crystalline water, many animals walking around, leading their own lives, and pure, tall trees, offering their beautiful apples, flowers and leaves. Walking around the trees, they noticed a frightened bird, panicking around the plants. Desperately trying to run away from something. Behind them, there was a man, with a rather robust structure, messy hair, and was almost naked, wearing only a beige, skirt-like garment. His left hand held a spear, and he was running in hopes to kill and cook the bird.

According to Basch, the man belonged to the race of Neanderthals, in which was the current human species at the time, before the Homo sapiens – That is, the species in which the siblings belonged to – took place of the whole planet and changed it completely. The prehistoric man wanted to kill and cook the bird, in hopes to eat it. As he managed to catch it, he impaled the small creature through his spear, finally getting it for a snack. Curious, both of the Homo sapiens decided to follow the man, leading to a rather large cave with his family. Crystals everywhere, sounds of water dripping. Each member was sitting near a bonfire, with very few clothes, and the walls were with paintings which disregarded basic anatomy.   
“It’s real… Charles Darwin was right…”

Suddenly, the ancient family simply… Stared at them. They stared, just like if they met an alien species. The same man who got the bird started to snarl, thinking they were going to invade their territory. Angry, he started to chase the siblings, not even knowing or aware they were themselves in the future. Afraid of death, Basch and Lili ran away.

A thing Lili questioned was why she, her brother, the nations, and humans were afraid of death. Why everyone who has feelings has a hatred for death. She couldn’t explain it completely, but suspects that if somebody dies, they won’t have any experiences with their lives anymore. They will lose everything, and might start over from the very beginning, after years of blood, sweat, and tears to reach your goals. Maybe this is the reason why I’m afraid of death, she thought. 

Escaping the imagination and returning to reality, she realized how the ground was thin, and it seemed like a spinning bridge around them. Looking at her front, it was a… Wheel? A stone wheel, just like those from prehistory. They were just like hamsters in a ball. To make it worse, an avalanche-like sound was released from behind the Zwingli siblings. Rumble, rumble, rumble. In pure desperation, Lili realized there was no way how to look back, just to run to get away from the man who seemed to want to kill her and the brother. At a sudden moment, the sand was slowly dissolving, and the wheel fell to darkness once again. Like a game glitch. 

Immediately, they were laying at the giant clock once again. However, the arrow to indicate hours was between the “4” and the “5” and a bit damaged, its sibling seemed to be broken in half, pointing at the number “10”, and the seconds arrow – The youngest sibling - just continued to go really fast, ignoring the damage. It was just like a child. 

As both Liechtenstein and Switzerland got up from the broken clock, they realized that the place this time was very different. A small village, with almost all of the houses made of white walls, an amazingly made church, with details, a golden cross on the top, and a golden bell. The people were of the Homo sapiens species, with their clothes being still beige and dull. There weren’t any castles, but a forest surrounded the whole village, which seemed to be small.

They seemed to be at the Late Middle Ages. Birds were singing, and looked like they wanted to reclaim the place. As Lili and Basch walked around, they saw a rather large, beautifully made fountain, but what got their attention was how it was making sounds just like the ones of a church bell. Suddenly, a deformed crystal bell seemed to be desperate to swim around the small amount of water the building had. The older brother grabbed the strange instrument once again, this time with the clapper glowing a bit more than normal. When put to sing, the irregular figure became a completely white fluid, looking like it was melting. Shining and seemingly non-Newtonian, the liquid levitated from Basch’s hand, spinning and wanting to live. 

The little spirit was actually flying, and slowly formed butterfly wings. The people around the siblings and the supernatural being didn’t look at the situation, nor were they paying attention. When they realized, time was stopped for these medieval people.


	3. Laws of Time

Spinning and spinning, everything went distorted. Basch and Lili’s thoughts were distorted. Everything was walking towards madness, including space and time. Colors were spinning. Everything was spinning.

Burn the witch stop that hail Zeus it’s a cloak, non you bloody frog you must be exorcised there’s a sinner you’re going to hell shut up PASTA draw a circle here’s the earth draw a circle here’s the earth draw a circle here’s the earth I’m Italy Jesus loves you! yikes a ghost to be or not to be there’s the question burn the witch burn the witch burn the witch someone’s dying long live Germany! Germany, Germany, Germany, is a really, really nice place their food doesn’t suck unlike English food. . . 

Liechtenstein and Switzerland are suddenly thrown to the giant clock once again, as they were hearing breaking sounds. Crack, crack, crack. Once they got up, they saw two other nations, destroying the clock with their clumsy magic. Arthur Kirkland, also known as England, and Norway. Dressed in their wizard outfits, and cracking the mechanism of the giant, time-coordinating machine, who was making the spirit to cause enough chaos and trouble. As both siblings tried to interact with them, England accidentally fell inside the clock, with Norway sighing and having to get him once again.  
“Hey, Norway, could you help us out of here?”

With Basch being the one who asked, the rich nation just stared emotionlessly at the other two, just shrugging and grabbing his book.

“I would really like to help you two, but unfortunately, I can’t. I know this world; I just don’t know its name. The only way you may exit is to know the reason why you’re here. Consider that it’s not easy to figure it out, but I helped you a lot in this part by breaking this clock, which was messing up with space and time.”

Both siblings looked at each other with a bit of confusion. Looking at Norway again, he simply disappeared without any warnings whatsoever. It was their turn to figure it out what was the whole reason why they were in the strange world. Getting out of the clock, they see a dark sky, and stars everywhere. It was Space itself. Some stars were larger, others were smaller. Some planets were gaseous, others were rocky. Galaxies tried to claim the Universe. 

As they swun around the boundless, dark void, they saw a strange, shiny swirl that looked like a drop of milk. According to Greek Mythology, the milk from Hera’s breast made that celestial body. A cluster of stars, dust, gas, and many more than just stars. It seemed like a whirlpool in pure space, which wanted to suck everything around it. It was our very own galaxy, named the Milky Way. Galaxy even was derived from the term “milky” in Ancient Greek. 

Entering the bizarre, real life portal, the stars were way too shiny to perceive what were their real colors. Lili couldn’t wait until NASA made glasses in which makes everyone able to see stars, in the way how they really are. She kept being curious about their real structures after learning that white was our star’s real color. What’s the real color of the universe? Maybe it’s black, she thought. 

Traveling in an extremely fast speed, they both saw many stars in which Alfred F. Jones’s programs won’t shut up about: Antares and Betelgeuse, two red super giants in which people always fight to see which one is bigger, Rigel, a blue star which was really hotter than red ones (Basch complained about how he and his sister could really sweat when they came near it), Pollux, the famous orange giant, and many dwarf stars around them, which didn’t seem to shine at all. The majority of the stars around them were dwarfs in which were desperate to shine throughout their whole lives, but couldn’t. It was like minor celebrities in which wanted to be known by the whole world, or minor internet users in which wanted to become famous by the any and every single social web ever. 

They also got the sight of many planets around them, proving the bodies on our Solar System aren’t the only ones in the universe. Many were gaseous, others were rocky. Lili always wondered what if a rocky planet was with rings, or if Earth had rings, like Saturn. We could see a Milky Way-like ring every day and night, but what if the asteroids came closer to Earth? That would be the risk, she thought. She didn’t know very much about Astronomy, she just reached the beginning of adolescence, after all. 

How would the human race be if we lived in a planet as small as Pluto or in a gaseous one like Jupiter? Would the human race come to extinction early? How would us nations live? Would we all be micro nations, in a very young age? Would the world go to poverty? Would the economies be unstable? Would the world be a dictatorship?

After a few minutes, Lili and Basch were finally inside their home planet, landing inside the medieval version of Switzerland. Walking around the villages, every person was a strange position, looking like they were desperate to move, but couldn’t, as time was frozen to them. There was no sound at all, just the sound of the siblings’ voices, making the journey rather dull in that aspect. They echoed everywhere, for the whole universe to hear (In which didn’t). Walking more and more, they see the classic Swiss Alps, something both of them lived with every day. Seeing further, there was a small barn-like house, which wasn’t in the era of reformation yet. Birds were loving to sit on its roof, while there were some cows chewing on the grass. Strangely, its door was open.   
“Hello? Anyone home?”

Nobody was there. Some spider webs were built around the dark wooden walls, while the floor was making its basic creaking when stepped on. Suddenly, inside a bedroom, Liechtenstein noticed a paper on the rather tiny bed, covered with green blankets, and next to it was a closet – small military clothes inside.

Her delicate hands grabbed the paper as Switzerland followed. 

An upside-down, deformed bell was roughly drawn with paint. The lines were thick, made by someone who was still trying to choose the right brushes, and its clapper was quite small. The details weren’t very well-done, being completely messed up. “Die Glocken aus Kristall” on the top of the paper, “Schweizerische” on the bottom. The syllables “TA” and “CO” surrounded the drawn object, an attempt at onomatopoeia. Handwriting – completely incomprehensible - obviously from a toddler, in the age of still inverting the letters S and Z. 

Switzerland hugged his little sister tightly, tears running down his face, and sobbing hysterically. She wouldn’t expect her serious, older brother, to cry like a little child. But she was happy to find out where the source of the strange memory was, and to know that he had his moments of innocent and acting like her too. Looking at the tiny bell inside his pocket, a strange thought generated by the imagination-land inside her teenage mind passed through. What if… The tiny bell is actually a descendant of its crystal ancestor? Is it supernatural? Or did Norway or England make it to remind Basch Zwingli of his childhood? 

Taking the bell out, Lili swung it, wanting everything to go back to normal. Around the two siblings, darkness came out of nowhere, at the transition from them to the real world. 

A beautiful Sunday morning surrounded the seemingly utopic city of Zürich. The sun shining, and a few kids playing in the playground part of a park. Birds and bugs – especially butterflies – treated the place like their home. Well, Earth was their home. Lili and Basch were sitting on one of the many benches on the park, appreciating the trees and taking a time to rest, relax and hang out. The thoughts in Lili’s mind won’t stop, as she constantly questioned many stuff about life, even more about the bizarre experience she and her older brother just had. What’s the meaning of life and memories? Why do we get attached to things? What are the purposes of traumata? What feelings do memories bring and what are the purposes of them? Why does a trauma suddenly completely change a person?   
“Brother, I think I know the meaning of life, though I’m not sure about it…”

The question got Basch’s attention, seeing that she had such mode of thinking at such a young age. Sure, it wasn’t as critical as an adult’s, because she was still very young, but her thoughts were ahead of other people of her age group. His face was a bit curious, wanting to know more of what she thought about important subjects such as life, feelings, traumata, psychology, and memories.

“I honestly think we’re made to evolve more and more with the time until we reach perfection. It’s to make us think and question, but some people waste life in a rather wrong mode, spending it on unnecessary things all the time instead of separating stuff for fun and serious stuff… Seeing you, you’re a simple and loving spirit. Simple in the sense of humility, you know, poor in the spirit. Not in the sense of ignorance.   
Seeing some of the other nations around us, they’re very imperfect, yes, but you shouldn’t hate on them, personally, with a passion just because of their flaws. They’re learning for their mistakes, after all. Pity them, and think they just don’t know what they’re doing. But some of them are already very evolved, considering you, Japan, Germany, Norway… But that doesn’t mean everyone with a rather impure, badly-evolved spirit is bad. They are just a bit slower when it comes to moral and spiritual evolution.   
I realized how each generation is becoming more intelligence, in the sense of spirit, sense and morality. We wouldn’t do such things like our ancient ancestors did, that is killing people for being different than us, or something like that.   
I’m not really sure about memories, they mostly define our personalities, and make us learn about things we see everyday lives, you know, essential life lessons…”

The older brother was impressed with her mode of thinking, but wasn’t surprised to see how curious she was. Lili was always curious and asked him a lot of things, like many children do. But he was surprised at how she was already a bit ahead of people her age. Questioning life, its lessons, and more important subjects. Suddenly, his ears hear Sealand running around the trees and the playground, carrying a paper on his hands.

The thirteen-year-old decided to follow England’s brother, who looked at her when he was about to climb at a slide. She stared at the paper, and clearly knew who drew it, seeing the crystal bell.

“Hey, do you know who drew this, girl?”

**Author's Note:**

> A fun fact is that this answers my question: "What if I made Konata101's Taco Hell?"


End file.
